Sacred Games: Netflix to make first original series in India on crime and the underworld

Netflix is going to Bollywood. The company has announced plans for its first original series in India, which will be based on author Vikram Chandra's bestseller Sacred Games and will go by the same name.

The bilingual series in Hindi and English will be based in Mumbai and will revolve around the city's dark underbelly.

The drama "delves into the city's intricate web of organised crime, corruption, politics and espionage that lie beneath India's economic renaissance," according to the plot description.

Netflix has tied up with Phantom Films, a production house backed by Indian filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena.

"Sacred Games reinforces our commitment to bring the authenticity of local stories to Netflix members across 190 countries worldwide," said Erik Barmack, VP of international original series at Netflix.

"I'm confident that all the color and vitality and music of the fictional world I've lived with for so long will come fully alive on the large-scale canvas provided by Netflix," added Chandra.

Phantom Films has a joint venture with Reliance Entertainment and has also partnered with Graphic India and Stan Lee's POW Entertainment for the film Chakra the Invincible.

One of the production house's founders, Kashyap already has a relationship with Netflix. The media giant streamed the director's 2012 two-part epic Gangs Of Wasseypur as an eight-part series in 2015.

Netflix started its services in India at the start of 2016 and has also been streaming a mix of Bollywood, regional language and independent Indian films, the most recent of which was this year's Sundance hit sex comedy Brahman Naman. The film will premiere on Netflix on 7 July.